The Los Angeles Dodgers were defeated the Los Angeles Angels in extra innings as their rivals to the South took the Freeway Series opener by a score of 3-2.
The Dodgers entered the Freeway Series with a 10-game winning streak against the Angels, the longest in history.
Shohei Ohtani started the scoring with a two-run homer in his third at-bat against his former team. He also walked in his first two plate appearances, and singled in his fourth.
With the home run, Ohtani has now scored and driven in a run for six consecutive games, both are season-highs for the Dodgers.
The Dodgers’ two-run lead was given up Ryan Yarbrough in the sixth inning as he hit three batters and allowing two runs to tie the game. In the 10th, Evan Phillips allowed a two-out single that scored the ghost runner, giving the Angels the winning run.
The Dodgers advanced Cavan Biggio to third base as their ghost runner, but Kiké Hernández and Gavin Lux struck out to end the game.
Landon Knack turned in another strong start, tossing five scoreless innings. He gave up two hits, struck out two and walked two before coming out of the game with 73 pitches thrown.
Prior to the game, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts indicated Knack could stick around with the Major League club to continue to utilize their six-man rotation. “We’ll see,” Roberts said. “We’ll see.”
“I think we are trying to protect the guy that we do have,” Roberts added. “So having Tyler go on regular rest, which he could have done, when you have a guy that has been plugged in, Landon Knack, and has performed, the net sum is better to just give Tyler the extra day.”
Whether the Dodgers chose to keep Knack around or not, his performance has certainly been worthy of a spot. Overall on the season, he’s thrown 25.2 innings with a 2.10 ERA and 0.94 WHIP while striking out 18.
Shohei Ohtani faces Angels for first time
Heading into the game, Ohtani was the center of the focus as he was set to face the Angels for the first time since signing with the Dodgers. Ohtani made his MLB debut for the Halos, and spent six seasons with them, winning numerous awards.
“I think that he’s very grateful of his time in Anaheim,” Roberts said. “I think he’s certainly happy here. It’s one of those things that he’s excited to get here, this day to get here, to get it over with, because I think he just wants to play baseball.
“So it’s kind of when you’re Shohei Ohtani, these questions certainly happen. And he impacted a lot of fans, so for him to come north a little bit, it was a big deal, but I’m sure he just wants to play a baseball game.”
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